Events

On This Day - April 21

Lands two secret agents near Antibes (France)
HMS Unbroken silently slipped towards the French coastline. On board were operatives from the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the Wartime intelligence agency tasked with espionage, reconnaissance and sabotage in occupied Europe.

Under the daring command of Alistair Mars, HMS Unbroken successfully delivered the Wartime agents, led by Peter Churchill, to Antibes bay. Churchill was able to link up with the French Resistance and carry the fight to the Nazi occupiers.

Led by Peter Churchill, the SOE agents used inflatable boats to paddle from the submarine in Antibes bay to the shore. From there they made their way to the French Resistance, bringing them directives, helping to improve their communications, and arranging help for those brave fighters who had been arrested. Peter Churchill’s exploits were later portrayed by Trevor Howard in the 1950 film "Odette".

HMS Splendid left Malta on 17th April 1943 with orders to patrol off Naples and later off the west coast of Corsica. On 21st April the submarine was detected by the German destroyer Hermes, whose depth charge attack forced the submarine to the surface. HMS Splendid was then scuttled by her crew to avoid capture.

HMS Tireless, while participating in the Joint US Navy/Royal Navy Ice Exercise in the Arctic Ocean, experienced an explosion of a self contained oxygen generation candle that killed two crew members and injured one. The explosion occurred at approximately 12:20am.